Wednesday, February 14, 1996

last night in melbourne, our australian tour manager told us that if the customs officers in christchurch, new zealand, demand a cavity search, also known as a body examination, we should ask 4 a female doctor + a magistrate 2 be present + refuse the procedure otherwise...she then proceded 2 tell us some horror stories...she seemded quite sincere although i remember new zealand customs 2 b no worse than any other customs in he world...if ya have a guitar case u r in trouble...if ya have long hair u r in trouble...etc.etc...well, we had a nice show in melbourne @ the concert hall...this is an amazing band - the best i ever had, + a gr8 crew....dan's has got 2 b the best monitor engineer i've ever met...attention 2 detail...'opium' started out @ #89 in aussie charts, then it moved up 2 #31 in its 2nd week + now it has climbed 2 #23 in the 3rd week...sony australia is shooting 4 the top 10 w steve millard telling everybody that this is NOT special market, but rather - MAINSTREAM, which i completely agree w...wouldn't it b cool 2 have 'opium' in the top 50 on the billboard pop charts? in australia 'opium' sold in 3 weeks what 'solo para ti' sold in its 1st year!!!! in bed a little after midnight + then a wake-up call @ 5:30am 4 a lobby cal @ 6:30am...a few seconds after the wake-up call our product manager in the u.s., al masocco, called: 'were u asleep' 'hey, it's 5:30am here!' 'oh, i'm sorry'...'opium' will b released in the u.s. in 2 weeks...right now we r on the plane 2 christchurch...some 12 yr. old cheddar, some port...a smile on my face...customs r still a few hours away... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ UPDATE: customs in new zealand...of course they had 2 single me out...stefan had warned me 2 keep my big mouth shut + i did pretty good...shouldn't have said 'that's a camera' when the officer pulled a camera out of my bag...anyway, of course he found the sleeping pills + gave 'em 2 somebody 2 have analyzed quickly....a very clean-cut japanese student-type was getting searched next 2 me...the uptight officer was asking him y he was visiting new zealand...then i heard the officer say: 'there r a lot of asians coming 2 new zealand. they surely aren't coming 2 study. what r u doing here?' he kept insinuating that all asians were drug-dealers...i was getting upset...then suddenly, the young man fell 2 the ground w a thud ...he had fainted...the officer bent down + kept asking questions: 'r u on medication? have u taken any substance?' he didn't show concern + kept interrogating the japanese man, who was probably just frightened + shocked by the arrogance + racism of the customs officer ...i was let go then + raced out of the room...   12:00:00 AM  comment []

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